I have found myself gainfully employed again, after a brief but enjoyable period of having nothing but housework to avoid doing.
Funny thing really – for all my months and months of applying for jobs, this one found me!
It was while my mum was visiting, we were treating ourselves to an expensive day on the beach (the public beach has been closed for months now while they are renovating it – again – after being open for only 6 months, so we had to go to a hotel) when I got a call on my mobile asking if I was interested in an Executive Assistant opportunity.
My reaction was decidedly lukewarm. But I had another conversation with the person who called, found out the job was a little more involved than I had thought, and decided that I’d be stupid not to go for an interview, because at the very least it would be some much needed interview experience.
First interview was ok, saw the office and met the woman I’d been speaking to on the phone. Both seemed quite nice. I learned more about the job and found it would probably be more interesting than I had thought, and certainly nothing like my last “assistant” role. What’s that thing they say about having to eat your words...? Yeah.
The decided lack of experience on my CV had me convinced that I wouldn’t be invited back for the second interview – so I carried on applying for jobs and avoiding housework.
Imagine my surprise when I got called in for that second interview, this time with the guy whom I’d be assisting in an executive manner! It went well enough, but once again I didn’t expect much to come of it. I went against advice and was completely honest about my experience and abilities, it would have been silly not to – they had my CV and could see that I’d had one “real” job aside from doing the PhD. However, an unexpected trump card revealed itself, when the guy whom I’d be assisting (henceforth to be known as “008”) said that he’d done a PhD and when it finished realised that he didn’t want to go into academia!
Trump card or no, I still didn’t hold out much hope that I’d get the job.
So, once again, I was somewhat surprised when I got a missed call while getting a leg-wax from the woman who had called me the first time when I was on the beach telling me that I had the job! Who’d of thunk it?!
I accepted, needless to say. It would have been foolish not to for all manner of reasons, the current economic climate being just one (and incidentally, who’d have thought that a phrase like “current economic climate” would become one of those that just trips off the tongue with the greatest of ease? Fun times, eh?).
Fast forward a few days and I had decided to treat myself to a mid-week sun-bath before I start working and have the chance of doing so taken away. Lying there on the self same beach I’d been on with my mum when I had that monumental first phone call and work calls again. I did not say that I was sitting on the beach (again), because I didn’t want to give the impression that I am a complete WAG, but listened while I was told that I needed to email a copy of my passport because they needed it to process my IT equipment. No biggie, thinks I, that’ll be to give me access to a desktop computer, an email address and to put me on the phone system. No no! In fact, it was so that I could get my laptop and my blackberry. I suddenly felt very aware of a heavy weight of responsibility settling itself on my nicely tanning (burnt) shoulders. I’m pretty sure I laughed. All I had running through my head was thoughts of: You see this phone? It means we OWN YOU!
I also couldn’t understand why an Executive Assistant should be in want of a laptop AND a blackberry, which made me briefly entertain the fantasy that I would actually be working for someone who was kind of like James Bond… hence the “008”… (Eddie Izzard has NOTHING on me.)
I’m starting my third week at work now, and so far it’s been ok. Had a few incredibly stressful moments and a few terribly boring ones. There’s a huge amount that I don’t understand, but that’s inevitable with any new job, and especially when one isn’t trained in the field of that job.
I’m finding my feet and getting to know the people who work around me. Everyone is very nice, very welcoming and very helpful. The office is small-ish but not too small. The only complaint is the long hours, but it’s standard here. I try* to get to work between 7:30 and 8 and 5 is the earliest I’ll go home.
Home time, whatever time that may be, is wonderful. It’s winter so the weather is gorgeous right now and I walk home! Depending on the height of my heel it can take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes, I pop in my iPod and take my sweet time strolling around the centre of Abu Dhabi. There are always loads of people around, walking and driving, and I feel terribly cosmopolitan and smug thinking about my half hour of daily exercise. But joking aside, I’m finding it a great way to let go of the day, especially a stressful one.
My last job was depressing because it was so brain meltingly boring and kinda soul destroying. This one is way more stressful (in my last job I was finished all my daily tasks by 10:30 and had to hope for something to come up, in this one I stayed long after most people had gone on a Thursday to try and get something finished) but I feel like I’m actually doing something with my day, that my job has value and, should I want to, there is a career path I could take here. In the last two weeks there were at least three times when I thought that I was in over my head and maybe I should leave within my three months probation period, which is kind of distressing and definitely one of the reasons I need my walk home in the evening.
I don’t know what I’m going to do in the summer though!
*This is a whole other blog entry in itself!
Funny thing really – for all my months and months of applying for jobs, this one found me!
It was while my mum was visiting, we were treating ourselves to an expensive day on the beach (the public beach has been closed for months now while they are renovating it – again – after being open for only 6 months, so we had to go to a hotel) when I got a call on my mobile asking if I was interested in an Executive Assistant opportunity.
My reaction was decidedly lukewarm. But I had another conversation with the person who called, found out the job was a little more involved than I had thought, and decided that I’d be stupid not to go for an interview, because at the very least it would be some much needed interview experience.
First interview was ok, saw the office and met the woman I’d been speaking to on the phone. Both seemed quite nice. I learned more about the job and found it would probably be more interesting than I had thought, and certainly nothing like my last “assistant” role. What’s that thing they say about having to eat your words...? Yeah.
The decided lack of experience on my CV had me convinced that I wouldn’t be invited back for the second interview – so I carried on applying for jobs and avoiding housework.
Imagine my surprise when I got called in for that second interview, this time with the guy whom I’d be assisting in an executive manner! It went well enough, but once again I didn’t expect much to come of it. I went against advice and was completely honest about my experience and abilities, it would have been silly not to – they had my CV and could see that I’d had one “real” job aside from doing the PhD. However, an unexpected trump card revealed itself, when the guy whom I’d be assisting (henceforth to be known as “008”) said that he’d done a PhD and when it finished realised that he didn’t want to go into academia!
Trump card or no, I still didn’t hold out much hope that I’d get the job.
So, once again, I was somewhat surprised when I got a missed call while getting a leg-wax from the woman who had called me the first time when I was on the beach telling me that I had the job! Who’d of thunk it?!
I accepted, needless to say. It would have been foolish not to for all manner of reasons, the current economic climate being just one (and incidentally, who’d have thought that a phrase like “current economic climate” would become one of those that just trips off the tongue with the greatest of ease? Fun times, eh?).
Fast forward a few days and I had decided to treat myself to a mid-week sun-bath before I start working and have the chance of doing so taken away. Lying there on the self same beach I’d been on with my mum when I had that monumental first phone call and work calls again. I did not say that I was sitting on the beach (again), because I didn’t want to give the impression that I am a complete WAG, but listened while I was told that I needed to email a copy of my passport because they needed it to process my IT equipment. No biggie, thinks I, that’ll be to give me access to a desktop computer, an email address and to put me on the phone system. No no! In fact, it was so that I could get my laptop and my blackberry. I suddenly felt very aware of a heavy weight of responsibility settling itself on my nicely tanning (burnt) shoulders. I’m pretty sure I laughed. All I had running through my head was thoughts of: You see this phone? It means we OWN YOU!
I also couldn’t understand why an Executive Assistant should be in want of a laptop AND a blackberry, which made me briefly entertain the fantasy that I would actually be working for someone who was kind of like James Bond… hence the “008”… (Eddie Izzard has NOTHING on me.)
I’m starting my third week at work now, and so far it’s been ok. Had a few incredibly stressful moments and a few terribly boring ones. There’s a huge amount that I don’t understand, but that’s inevitable with any new job, and especially when one isn’t trained in the field of that job.
I’m finding my feet and getting to know the people who work around me. Everyone is very nice, very welcoming and very helpful. The office is small-ish but not too small. The only complaint is the long hours, but it’s standard here. I try* to get to work between 7:30 and 8 and 5 is the earliest I’ll go home.
Home time, whatever time that may be, is wonderful. It’s winter so the weather is gorgeous right now and I walk home! Depending on the height of my heel it can take anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes, I pop in my iPod and take my sweet time strolling around the centre of Abu Dhabi. There are always loads of people around, walking and driving, and I feel terribly cosmopolitan and smug thinking about my half hour of daily exercise. But joking aside, I’m finding it a great way to let go of the day, especially a stressful one.
My last job was depressing because it was so brain meltingly boring and kinda soul destroying. This one is way more stressful (in my last job I was finished all my daily tasks by 10:30 and had to hope for something to come up, in this one I stayed long after most people had gone on a Thursday to try and get something finished) but I feel like I’m actually doing something with my day, that my job has value and, should I want to, there is a career path I could take here. In the last two weeks there were at least three times when I thought that I was in over my head and maybe I should leave within my three months probation period, which is kind of distressing and definitely one of the reasons I need my walk home in the evening.
I don’t know what I’m going to do in the summer though!
*This is a whole other blog entry in itself!
1 comment:
The best thing about this post is that you missed a call because you were having a leg wax.
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